❝ Give me ten days. Until Christmas, to give you ten reasons to not die, ten reasons to show you that life is worth living. ❞
They first met in a dark alleyway.
The catch? The gun in his hand, pointed at himself.
Ten days until Christmas; ten days...
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9:29 am
The next day, Azura set out a little later.
While she had left at dawn the day before, she decided to take her time that day. Dressing up properly, and eating a hearty breakfast, around nine in the morning, she walked out of her house to find Jordan.
But before she could step on to the street, she was stopped by her brother Xandar.
"Where are you off to?" he asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "I haven't seen you go out so often since god knows when. And as a loving big brother, it's my job to make sure that my precious little sister doesn't get herself in trouble."
The day before, after she pointed out the first reason, all was more or less silent. Both Azura and Jordan were content to simply sit and revel in each other's company. Despite him not talking much, she still felt they had made considerable progress, and went home vowing to meet him again the next day.
"Calm down, I'm only going to meet a friend," she assured him, starting to walk off.
"But I called Jess up yesterday to ask about you, and she said you weren't with her," Xandar stated, cocking his head to the side a little.
Azura felt her face warm. In anger or embarrassment, she couldn't tell.
"You know, I have other friends besides Jess. And I'm going to meet one of them right now," she said haughtily, walking further and further away from her brother.
"At least tell me her name!" he shouted at her.
"Who says its a 'her'? she retorted.
Xandar froze for a second before roaring, "What?!"
But before he could get an answer, Azura sprinted out of sight, turning the corner as fast as she could. Only when she was almost at the end of the alley could she let out a sigh of relief.
Putting her hands on her knees and panting, trying to catch her breath, she suddenly heard a small whine and a bark from her right.
She perked up, and tried following the sounds to its source.
She finally found it when she spotted a small cardboard box placed against the wall. Upon opening it, a figure leaped on her and tackled her to the ground.
A small white puppy was attacking her face with wild licks as she struggled to get up, getting pushed back down every time she got close.
"Well this is vaguely reminiscent, isn't it?" a voice called out.
Jordan walked up to Azura, and crouching down, gently picked the puppy up and away from her.
Sputtering, she sat up, looking exasperatedly at the little bundle of fur now nestled in Jordan's lap. Her back was wet from laying in the snow and her hair was a wild mess of tangles.
